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Re:Why are antennas popping up all over the foothills? SLC s... by Retric on Thursday January 05, 2023 @11:10PM (#34270861)
That’s true enough, but missing the major difference. Salt Lake City’s metropolitan area is effectively in the middle of nowhere surrounded by desert not rings of exurbs that blend into new cities the way you normally see around major cities.

Which is why it isn’t surrounded by a great cellphone network, and thus why they are setting up a independent radio network.

Re:Why are antennas popping up all over the foothills? SLC s... by UncleEntity on Friday January 06, 2023 @12:56AM (#34271508)
The I-80 and I-15 both intersect in SLC and are major routes. Cell coverage is just fine until it gets a little sketchy up by Idaho but still (close enough to) 100%.

Good enough where you wouldn’t need to set up your own system. Or be stupid enough to make them noticeable and have the Forest Service confiscate them. I mean, come on, a little black paint and a cryptic “Property of US Government” sticker would go a long way.

Or, if you want to be super sneaky just throw them up on a telephone pole because it’s well known that the companies only mess with their own equipment so you can hide stuff in plain sight.

Re:Why are antennas popping up all over the foothills? SLC s... by Retric on Friday January 06, 2023 @05:08AM (#34272988)
That’s not really useful if you want to make use of the other 90+% of land in the area such as by having people fly over it in paragliders and possibly make an emergency landings.
Re:Why are antennas popping up all over the foothills? SLC s... by UncleEntity on Friday January 06, 2023 @09:20AM (#34274809)
Sure, but the argument was cartels building a shadow cell network because the existing one was too iffy for them.

And these seem to be right outside SLC proper.

Re:Why are antennas popping up all over the foothills? SLC s... by Retric on Friday January 06, 2023 @10:36AM (#34275835)
That was one idea tossed out, but there isn’t a cellphone network coverage in most areas covered by this network.

Suggesting it’s useful in places that overlapped ignores the utility in areas where it would be the only option. I doubt drug dealers are meeting up in the desert outside of cellphone range with their suppliers, but it isn’t a crazy idea.